Yep. Them. The party who were so wrapped up in cronyism and election-buying that your grandchildren will still be paying for the consequences fifty years from now.

That’s the crowd.

In a normal country, this party would now be no more than an entry in the history books, but Ireland is no normal country, and that’s why Fianna Fáil now find themselves the most popular party in the land by the simple expedient of keeping their heads down.

That’s all they had to do – keep their mouths shut and watch their sister party, Fine Gael, doing exactly the same things they themselves would have done if they had been reelected.

Is there any hope for Ireland when we maintain a political system based on two centre-right parties with almost no difference in their outlook? Aren’t we doomed to repeat this folly over and over again with one bunch of clowns continually swapping places with the other?

It really is depressing that people have such a short memory. There has to be something seriously wrong with this country when people forget so quickly what a spectacular disaster Fianna Fáil made of their stewardship in government.

In some countries, treachery and incompetence of the order of the previous Fianna Fail administration might have resulted in jail terms; in some others; perhaps summary execution.
Depressing though it may seem, I am not surprised that the car crash that is Fianna Fail is clawing it’s way back into the nation’s favour.
Ireland is populated predominantly by people of peasant stock with a peasant and parochial mentality, narrow minded, obsessed with gaudy vulgar materialism. Their ideal role models are purveyors of “the stroke” whether it be in politics or shady business–they are not grafters. Making money in the easiest possible way is the order of the day regardless it’s impact on society at large or the source or sustainability. We see it in the vulgarity of our social habits, the garish communion celebrations, the vulgarity of dress which even pervades our national broadcaster whose female presenters favour inappropriate cocktail dresses to business attire.
Truthfully, a large swathe of Irish society’s attitudes and mores are indistinguishable from those of the subset they most loath–the travellers.
Fianna Fail is the natural representative of those who glorify the parochial stroke.
They will return to Government and begin the wrecking process when the books are balanced and the people need another orgy of excess. Rednecks in Mercs and shiny suits; the tinker’s wedding that FF has become.

It’s a statistically significant sample. If you randomly pulled 1000 beans out of a bucket of 4 million, and found that 27% of them were purple, you could reasonably infer that the same proportion applied to the whole lot.

Not necessarily. Maybe they only surveyed geriatrics whose memories aren’t the best?
Or maybe they surveyed all the in-laws of Willie O’Dea, at say a family wedding?
Or maybe there was some bog trotters annual convention recently?
There has to be some sort of rational explanation for this.

Well, in a normal country people would have formed a new party rather than saying “we need a new party.” Or sneering at any small party (greens, the far left) while moaning that the big parties are evil.

“Truthfully, a large swathe of Irish society’s attitudes and mores are indistinguishable from those of the subset they most loath–the travellers.” – haven’t heard that said before, but it seems truer than most would acknowledge. Any houses boss?

The best comparison would probably be Italy – their Fianna Fail, the Christian Democrats, collapsed in corruption in the early 90s, only to emerge as the almost identical Forza Italia.

Well, in a normal country people would have formed a new party rather than saying “we need a new party.” Or sneering at any small party (greens, the far left) while moaning that the big parties are evil.

“Truthfully, a large swathe of Irish society’s attitudes and mores are indistinguishable from those of the subset they most loath–the travellers.” – haven’t heard that said before, but it seems truer than most would acknowledge. Any houses boss?

The best comparison would probably be Italy – their Fianna Fail, the Christian Democrats, collapsed in corruption in the early 90s, only to emerge as the almost identical Forza Italia.

The rational explanation is that…to be the honest, the British were right, we ARE incapable of governing ourselves, and we should henceforth surrender our independence back to them. I for one would much rather Cameron in charge of me for the next 60 years than see the return of Fianna Fail.

Fianna Fail since 1932 has been the greatest catch-all party in democratic Europe. It has been all things to all men. It has been a slightly constitutional party (Sean Lemass), a constitutional republican party, an anti-subversion party (Offences against the State Act), a foreign direct investment FDI party (Lemass-Whittaker & Haughey’s Irish Financial Services Centre), a mohair suited capitalist party (1960s onwards), an arts patronising party (taxfree writers & Aosdana), a socialist party (Ahern), a farmers party (Land Commission etc), a Pensioners Party (free bus passes & winter fuel allowances), a small farmer’s friend (dole for those with less than 25 acres of snipe grass), a Gregory deal party, and a nod-and-wink pragmatic party.

Don’t most of the Irish punters harbour a mixture of many of these values and wannabe urgings? So why be surprised that opinion polls show that the double-effers are slowly making a comeback from their electoral humiliation. Brian Lenihan Snr – a super fixer in his heyday – once described FF as “a party of great spirit”. Yes sir, and FG and Labour (and SF) cannot come up with a more powerful spirit. May an authentically right spirit move us all some day – but I don’t expect to live long enough to see it being distilled and imbibed.

Fianna fail are like the crowd you invite to a house party they are great craic loads of fun but they wreck your house before they leave. You swear you will never invite em again but after a few years you only remember the great craic they were so you invite em back they are great craic but they wreck your house again

It’s never too late to bail and I’ve left with my family, I can put up with the shit in Barney-Shamrock-Land, if we have to return, as I’ve been mentally emasculated, but it but I don’t want my son to be “Irish” and enjoy the “Crack” of our Free State Catholic Theme-park.

The ‘Soldiers of Infamy to be re-elected by virtue of a large brain-drain exodus of our brightest and best who would not in their sane minds entertain them. Leaving behind the mediocre lemmings to vote them in. And to be re-elected by throngs of grateful welfare claiming foreign national recipients..Only 37 per cent now work (Irish Examiner today). FF benefit from dumbing down of the populace.